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When the Shark Bites

This is no nasty nip from a snaggletoothed predator: We’re talking a revolutionary new plumbing product.

By Steve Root

Every once and a while, a tool or product or technique comes along that so upends the apple cart, it’s almost hard to believe or accept. Such is the case with the SharkBite EvoPEX system, which the crew at Custom Design & Construction's Sheldon Street project is working with for the first time.

And it’s understandable why these guys with a combined, oh, billion years or so in construction would be a little skeptical of a product that pretty much does away with the old way of plumbing: Gone are crimping, expansion joints, and sweating of copper piping. Now, it all can be done with color-coded blue (cold) and red (hot) flexible PEX and push-in couplings and joints which show a no-brainer green indicator when the connection has been made successfully.

And in case you’re concerned about those joints holding, in development, they were pressure-tested to 900 PSI. “The pipes busted before the connectors failed,” Dan says with an incredulous laugh.

The SharkBite EvoPEX system is a huge time-saver, which of course translates to financial savings. And there’s even some potential reduction in physical pain. Dan says, “I sure won’t miss being on my back, under a building, sweating copper pipe and having hot solder dripping on my face!”